Episode 151: Pilates for Health: Core Strength, Flexibility, and More with Lesley Logan

[00:00:00] Welcome back to the Back on Track, Achieving Healthy Weight Loss, where I help you get

[00:00:05] on track and stay on track with your weight loss journey. I'm your host, Dr. Alicia Shelly.

[00:00:11] So let's get started. Hello, and welcome to the Back on Track, Achieving Healthy Weight Loss

[00:00:32] podcast. I'm your host, Dr. Alicia Shelly. Today, I have expert Leslie Logan, a Pilates expert,

[00:00:40] and she is the co-founder of OnlinePilatesClasses.com. She has taught thousands of students,

[00:00:46] trained hundreds of teachers, and led workshops at global conferences and supported companies

[00:00:51] such as the Associated Press and Balance Body. She's empowering her participants with movement

[00:00:58] and happiness through Pilates. Now I will tell you, I have some patients and some clients

[00:01:04] they just can't go out and walk, and they can't necessarily do the high impact exercises.

[00:01:11] And the one thing I tell them is that, hey, you may not be able to do the high impact

[00:01:15] exercises, but maybe you should consider Pilates. It'll help with strengthening your core

[00:01:20] and other benefits. So without further ado, let us welcome Leslie Logan to the podcast.

[00:01:27] Welcome, Leslie. Oh, I'm so happy. Thank you. Thank you so much for the work that you do

[00:01:31] promoting Pilates. I mean, it really makes me so happy. Usually I'm coming on to tell people

[00:01:36] how great Pilates is, but you already know. We can tell the listeners how it is. But also,

[00:01:40] yes, you guys core strength is so key. Sometimes the high impact stuff isn't even an option

[00:01:45] because we don't have the strength of our center to hold us up and take on the impact

[00:01:49] of those moves. And just because you're doing low impact doesn't mean it's low results or

[00:01:54] low benefits. You know? Exactly. You could get so much from low impact exercise. Well, before

[00:02:01] we get started, tell us a little bit more about yourself and how did you get into the space

[00:02:06] of Pilates? Oh my gosh. So I love telling the story. I used to be embarrassed to tell the story,

[00:02:11] but I love it because hopefully your listeners can resonate. When I was invited to my first

[00:02:16] Pilates class, I actually rolled my eyes. I thought it was BS workout, like infomercial

[00:02:20] workout. Couldn't do the things that said it could do, but I wanted a friend. So I went

[00:02:25] to class and actually I felt parts of my body never felt before. And I left the class so excited

[00:02:32] about the day. I had just so much energy and I was like, Oh my gosh, I'm going to do this every

[00:02:35] single day. So I changed my work schedule so I could. And the more I did it, the more I got

[00:02:39] to know myself even more because you get to pause all the chaos in your brain and just

[00:02:43] focus on what you're doing in that moment and have a movement meditation with yourself.

[00:02:49] And I realized I didn't love my job or where I lived. And so I moved and then I became a

[00:02:54] Pilates instructor. And I happened to live down the street from one of Joe Supplies clients.

[00:02:58] And I got to study with him and his protegees and it became my mentors.

[00:03:02] And I started traveling the world because I was just so passionate about it. And now I've

[00:03:06] taught people all walks of life, all different ages from 11 to 85 and beyond. So it's really

[00:03:13] a blessing really to be able to teach it because I get to help people live the life

[00:03:17] that they want to live. That's amazing. Well, thank you so much for sharing.

[00:03:22] So for somebody who's heard of Pilates, but doesn't exactly quite know exactly what it is,

[00:03:28] how would you describe Pilates? Yeah, it's a great question. So

[00:03:32] Pilates to me is a strength based workout that is designed to balance your imbalances.

[00:03:38] And that means that you are going to get flexibility from Pilates, but it's not just

[00:03:42] a stretch work and it's not just a strength work. So if we go to the weight training,

[00:03:45] for example, that is pure strength. Yoga could be strength, but often people use it for stretch.

[00:03:51] Whereas Pilates is going to be the balance of both. If you are very, very strong,

[00:03:55] we're going to work on flexibility with you and that's how the exercise will affect you.

[00:03:58] And if you are needing strength, you're going to get strength out of it. And if you need both,

[00:04:02] then you're in the best place because you need both things. But it is designed to work the

[00:04:07] entire body from the center first. So we don't spot train in Pilates. We actually work

[00:04:12] everything about connecting the muscles in your center and your center is basically think

[00:04:16] about your torso. It's for anything that surrounds your pelvis to your shoulder girdle

[00:04:20] and the things in between. So that's your back, your front, your sides. And if we can

[00:04:24] stabilize your spine, stabilize your axial skeleton, then we get to challenge you by

[00:04:29] moving your arms and your legs around and see if you can keep those connections.

[00:04:33] Great. So Pilates is the best of both worlds. You have flexibility and you have strength,

[00:04:40] which is important because that's what people need. They need to have that strength to tighten

[00:04:44] up their muscles, tone up their muscles as well as the flexibility. 100%. And also like injuries

[00:04:51] happen when you are too tight. Yeah, they happen and you could be super strong and tight

[00:04:55] and you can be super weak and tight, but tightness is actually where things get torn.

[00:04:59] But then if you're too flexible, then you can have injuries because you fall on a joint

[00:05:04] or you're not staying inside the muscle. So we need both things to prevent injury and

[00:05:08] have longevity in our life. Awesome. Awesome. Well, what are some of the benefits of Pilates?

[00:05:14] I know you mentioned the core strength, but is there anything else? Oh my gosh. Okay. The sky

[00:05:19] is a limit, but the benefits are going to be amazing posture, right? So core strength is

[00:05:24] going to be how posture happens. You shouldn't have to think about your posture. Your body

[00:05:27] should just do it. And when you have good posture, guess what? You also have, you have

[00:05:31] reduced injuries, but also amazing digestion. It also reduces stress. Yes, you guys, if you

[00:05:37] have poor posture, you also going to have not so great digestion. You're going around looking

[00:05:40] for like different pills and things like that, but really you just need to give room for your

[00:05:44] guts. You will have reduced stress, mental clarity. You have better lung capacity because

[00:05:50] you're learning how to breathe and move. We're not holding our breath at any time.

[00:05:54] Flexibility in the muscles and also around the joints. There are moves that actually teach

[00:05:59] you how to get up and down off the ground, which is what's going to increase the length of

[00:06:03] your life and the quality of the life that you live. There's so many more things we can go into,

[00:06:08] but spinal health is a big one. Joseph Plie said, you're only as old as your spine as young.

[00:06:13] And there's a lot of young people with very stiff spines. And then there's also people in

[00:06:19] their eighties and nineties with young spines and they are more youthful because our spines

[00:06:24] need to have mobility and flexibility so that they can take on all that life asks us to do.

[00:06:28] Wow, that's so important. I never thought about it like that. And you're only as young as your

[00:06:35] spine. Well, because I see patients where their spine is worse. They may be in their thirties

[00:06:40] or forties, but they have bulging discs. They have pinched nerves. How does Pilates help with

[00:06:47] multiple types of medical conditions? I know you mentioned it helps with stress, but is there

[00:06:52] something or somebody who's like a good candidate or who should be considering Pilates

[00:06:56] in their daily routine? Yeah. So if you have any aches, pains or injuries, you've been clear to

[00:07:03] move, but you are like a little unsure. So Pilates can't, especially private sessions,

[00:07:07] I would not send you to a class. If you are someone who's coming out of an injury or

[00:07:11] working with a new condition to you, a new to you condition, I would first work with private

[00:07:15] sessions because Pilates really does meet you where you are. And there's different pieces

[00:07:19] of equipment that we can use to help work the rest of your body out. So if you have knee

[00:07:24] or hip replacement, once you've been clear to move, Pilates is going to be one of the best

[00:07:28] places for you to go to learn how to move your body in a balanced way. But if you have

[00:07:32] neurological conditions, Pilates can be one of the best things that you can do because

[00:07:36] there's a lot of stuff that we do lying down. There are people that are Pilates

[00:07:39] instructors, not myself, but there are Pilates instructors who are trained to work with

[00:07:42] Parkinson's other types of conditions to help people, especially with the balance part

[00:07:48] of their body and moving things like that. I personally had a tibia plateau fracture

[00:07:53] and it was non-surgical, but I couldn't put weight on it for eight weeks. And Pilates was

[00:07:57] one of the only things I could do because there's a ton of exercises that do put weight on the leg,

[00:08:01] but there's also a bunch that don't. And so I could literally just remove the ones I couldn't

[00:08:05] do and I could still have a movement practice. You can do it as a pre postnatal person.

[00:08:10] You can do it prenatal. I've had clients do it up until the time they gave birth.

[00:08:14] Depends every pregnancy is different. However, I strongly encourage you to start Pilates before

[00:08:20] you're pregnant. There are some qualified teachers who can work with a person who is

[00:08:24] pregnant in a one-on-one capacity if they've not done Pilates before, but it's better for

[00:08:30] you, the person who's going through the pregnancy to start Pilates beforehand because

[00:08:33] then you'll know what feels different to you as a teacher when not in your body.

[00:08:37] So yeah, there's so many different things that you can do and I think that's what's

[00:08:41] really great about Pilates is it really does meet you where you are with the

[00:08:44] different conditions that can be there. I've worked with people who have had heart conditions

[00:08:49] and things like that where a lot of things they couldn't do MS. We can keep the air,

[00:08:53] we can get the room really cool and actually move your body at the pace that works for you.

[00:08:57] Some conditions I'm going to say most conditions they start with privates first just so that

[00:09:02] you can learn the moves for your body before you go into a group class. But then back

[00:09:06] issues, fusions, stenosis, Pilates can work around those conditions.

[00:09:11] Wow. Okay. Well, that's great. Seems like a lot of people can benefit from Pilates.

[00:09:17] Yeah, I really can. I mean, like I said, I work with 11-year-olds to help them work on

[00:09:21] their coordination and they were getting tall so quickly. They were five, six and 11 years old.

[00:09:27] So we were working on their core strength to help them with their posture because today

[00:09:30] nowadays kids are on devices. Everyone's on devices. You see all these forward heads going

[00:09:34] on. Here's the problem with forward head guys. The more forward your head goes off your spine,

[00:09:38] the more that you see information or people coming towards you as a threat. You don't see

[00:09:42] it as helpful or just being part of society. The other thing about your head going forward

[00:09:47] on your body is it affects your posture, which you already know affects your digestion,

[00:09:51] but it affects your pelvic floor. So even though I'm not a pelvic floor therapist,

[00:09:57] I can see that if the more forward someone's head goes, the more likely they're going to

[00:10:00] have pelvic floor issues and men listening, you have a pelvic floor too. You can have

[00:10:03] issues too. Oh yes. It's not just the ladies. It is not just the ladies. Well,

[00:10:08] is there anybody who should be avoiding Pilates? Yes. So like I said, if you are currently pregnant

[00:10:14] and you've never done it, I personally would, even if your doctor told you to do it,

[00:10:18] I would suggest waiting until afterwards. If you have rods in your spine as opposed to just

[00:10:24] a fusion and on like one spot, I'm going to suggest that you really do work with a

[00:10:29] trained professional in Pilates who works with spinal conditions. Otherwise it might not be the

[00:10:33] best thing for you because you can't flex, extend or twist or side bend. So it can be limiting what

[00:10:40] you can have. Those would be my two tops. Then if you are currently in acute pain as opposed to

[00:10:46] chronic pain, chronic pain, we can work around, but acute pain, acute anything going

[00:10:50] on with a herniation that just happened, you're going to want to wait before you start

[00:10:54] something new just because it's going to be hard to see is the pain that you're feeling

[00:10:59] from your condition or is it from a new movement? It's really important as an instructor,

[00:11:03] you tell me here's the things that I currently have pain on and then I can ask you, is this new

[00:11:09] or is this hard, right? There's a difference between hard and hurt. And we want hard is

[00:11:13] okay. Hurt we don't want. So those are some things. But if you have any neurological

[00:11:17] conditions like water on the brain, there are teachers who are specialized in those things.

[00:11:21] Again, fine teachers are specialized and to help you, you are looking for teachers who

[00:11:26] have at least been comprehensively trained. That word is very important. You'll hear comprehensively

[00:11:31] trained. You should be seeing more than 450 hours next to their certification. They should

[00:11:36] have been trained on multiple pieces of equipment. If you do have conditions that are more high

[00:11:40] risk, I want you to look for someone who has more specialized training. So they have all those

[00:11:44] things I said, plus they've been trained in things that you are working with. Someone who

[00:11:48] has severe scoliosis is going to want to work with someone who's worked with scoliosis before.

[00:11:52] So just keep that in mind. If you're a unique butterfly, find a teacher who's been trained

[00:11:57] to work with you or is willing to work with you and don't go into a group setting if you're

[00:12:01] going through anything right now, just because it could set you up for a setback. And that's

[00:12:05] not what the teacher wants. That's not what you want. Yeah. I love that. I love that. A

[00:12:10] unique butterfly. Yes. Yes. We all get to be unique and some of us just need our little

[00:12:17] more delicate. Well, how does somebody get started if they've never done Pilates before

[00:12:23] and they've been inspired by listening to you? How do they get started? I love this question.

[00:12:28] So if you are an able-bodied person, you've got to make some pains, but not really anything

[00:12:32] that's like medically you need to just get checked in. You can actually start Pilates

[00:12:36] online. You can do something. My full body in 15 workout series has a workshop that Lily

[00:12:42] teaches through the exercises and then a 15 minute class. So you can do it on the floor at

[00:12:47] home on your own. Super awesome. Full body in 15.com. We also have other free mat series

[00:12:52] because you just need room on the floor. If you are someone who's like, I prefer in

[00:12:56] person Leslie, you sound amazing, but I just want to do in person. That's who I am. I

[00:13:00] need that. I totally understand not offended. You can actually look up Pallais near you.

[00:13:05] And again, you're going to want to look for things like comprehensively trained.

[00:13:10] And I do recommend going to a place where they expect you to do an intro session,

[00:13:15] a private session or an intro series or an intro class. If the place lets you as a brand

[00:13:20] new person just go into an equipment class warning red flags, they're there for having

[00:13:27] lots of people come through and not necessarily impact on you. You want places that have rules

[00:13:31] like that actually care about the impact and the benefits you're going to have over their

[00:13:36] bottom line. Of course, they need to make money, their business, but those rules are

[00:13:39] there for a reason. They're there to keep you safe. So that's what I would suggest doing.

[00:13:42] Tanyer L

[00:13:53] Yeah. So first of all, just be kind to yourself. Okay? And also the thing that

[00:13:58] in person offers you is the accountability and showing up in person, which ended up

[00:14:02] having like someone's attention on you. But something about online that's really nice

[00:14:07] is that you don't have to finish the class. So if you are new to moving and new to getting started,

[00:14:12] you can press play. And literally after five minutes, you can go, I'm done. And I did my

[00:14:16] polis today. And that's enough. And that's something that we talk about at online

[00:14:19] polisclasses.com where like finishing is optional. The class is 30 minutes, but

[00:14:22] you never have to finish it. You could do the first five, you know, the first 10.

[00:14:25] So really being kind to yourself and being in practice. And I think polis is important

[00:14:30] to understand polis is a practice, just like being a doctor as a practice. We are in practice.

[00:14:35] And when we're in practice, we get to be curious and we're not trying to be perfect about it.

[00:14:40] And so that means you get to fall off the wagon, you get to miss a couple of days,

[00:14:42] and you can pick back up where you left off.

[00:14:44] Tanyer L And I love it. Well, for those who may not have heard,

[00:14:48] how can somebody work with you? Please tell us.

[00:14:51] Tanyer L Yeah. So online polisclasses.com is where I have free tutorials. It's where

[00:14:55] we have our online classes. It's in the name. And if you are wanting to check out some

[00:15:00] free content, free classes, you can go to opc.me slash challenge. There's a free

[00:15:05] mat challenge in there. And I even think that the full body 15 minute class is also on that

[00:15:09] page. So you can pick the one that works best for you.

[00:15:11] Tanyer L All right. Well, thank you so very much, Leslie, for telling us everything

[00:15:16] that we need to know so that we can get started with pilates.

[00:15:20] Leslie L Yeah. Also just get started.

[00:15:22] Tanyer L That's right. Just take one step forward. Well, thank you again for coming and

[00:15:27] thank you all for joining us on the Back on Track, Achieving Healthy Weight Loss podcast.

[00:15:33] If you like this episode, please share with others, like it and subscribe. And don't forget

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